Nvidia 1080 paper launch..microcenter can go<redacted> themselves

[ksheets]

Just thought I'd share my 1080 launch day experience. I decided to take the day off work so I could get to microcenter when they opened up to pick up a 1080 card (email subscribers might remember the email blast that came out earlier this week that advertised the 1080 available Friday).

So I pull up at 9:20, 40 minutes before they open and see people walking in and out of the store. Turns out, they had people lining up at 6AM. They had 20 cards to sell (paper launch) and ended up letting the people in line sign a paper and come back at 9AM (an hour before they open) to pick up the cards.

Is this some kind of official corporate policy because if so, it's false advertising- they had NO cards to sell at store opening....

At any rate, I'm done purchasing at MC...looks like I'll be sticking with Amazon and Newegg...

/bitchmodeoff


inappropriate word, even in that form in a technical forum
Markfw900

 

[Tumaras]

I totally understand your frustration. My guess is that they had >20 people in line already by 6am, and tbh if there are then they might as well just give people vouchers and let them go to breakfast or w/e and come back rather than force them to stand there for 3 hours needlessly.

The larger issue that causes this (and ruins Black Friday sales as well) are the flippers that don't even want the cards themselves, and are just looking to make a couple hundred dollars flipping them. Or equally to blame are the people willing to pay $1000 for a $700 card just to brag that they have it today.

 

[Squeetard]

I decided to take the day off work so I could get to microcenter when they opened up to pick up a 1080 card

WTF?

 

[moonbogg]

I'd be frustrated enough to go play in traffic if that happened to me. I'd take a bite out of a damn semi-truck's fender on the highway headed right toward me. Frustration = level 10 out of 10.
If I think I am coming home with a new GPU, and I don't come home with a new GPU, and I realize the entire weekend will be spent without a new GPU, I will then consider this entire universe a failed experiment and find it worthy of ending right then and there.

Also, taking off work for this is perfectly reasonable. If you aren't a surgeon with a planned surgery that day, everyone else can go straight to hell if they don't like me taking off work. I would do it. I have done it. I'd do it again.

 

[A5]

Just thought I'd share my 1080 launch day experience. I decided to take the day off work so I could get to microcenter when they opened up to pick up a 1080 card (email subscribers might remember the email blast that came out earlier this week that advertised the 1080 available Friday).

So I pull up at 9:20, 40 minutes before they open and see people walking in and out of the store. Turns out, they had people lining up at 6AM. They had 20 cards to sell (paper launch) and ended up letting the people in line sign a paper and come back at 9AM (an hour before they open) to pick up the cards.

Is this some kind of official corporate policy because if so, it's false advertising- they had NO cards to sell at store opening....

At any rate, I'm done purchasing at MC...looks like I'll be sticking with Amazon and Newegg...

/bitchmodeoff

20 cards at a retail location on launch day sounds like the opposite of a paper launch to me. MC usually has low stock of anything new for several months.

 

[MrTeal]

I guess if you're willing to take a day off work and forgo a couple hundred in lost wages to pick up a card on day one, the $100 FE charge doesn't seem so bad.
It sucks that they sold out before they opened and that you couldn't get one, but that sounds more like a MC than an nVidia one. By that metric Sony paper launched the PS4 despite selling a million units on launch day.

 

[crisium]

Well, you could make up the "lost wages" with scalping. Or they used a vacation day so they still get paid the same.

Anway, I think it's fine. Time is money, free time is gaming, gaming costs money, gaming needs video card, video card costs money, work is money, work is time, work is video card anway when you really think about it.

 

[RussianSensation]

Maybe not buying the thermal throttling FE is actually a good thing?

Anyway, it's not the end of the world. Many other stores online sell 1080s, some for less than MSRP. I would strongly advise against purchasing the dreaded FE card though.

Asus 1080 Strix out of the box:

1898 MHz boost clock in gaming mode
1936 MHz boost clock in OC mode

FE card will drop boost to 1620mhz (per JaysTwoCents) after just 5 minutes in Crysis 3. The Asus Strix promises 1936mhz out of the box, or almost 20% higher real world out of the box boost clock!

Unless you are water cooling or going mini ATX SLI, 1080 FE is NOT the card to buy. Don't waste your $, get AIB.

 

[MrTeal]

Well, you could make up the "lost wages" with scalping. Or they used a vacation day so they still get paid the same.

Anway, I think it's fine. Time is money, free time is gaming, gaming costs money, gaming needs video card, video card costs money, work is money, work is time, work is video card anway when you really think about it.

Of course. Wasting time posting on here is money just as much as queuing at Microcenter. It's not a judgement, just saying that if you're willing enough to use a day off in order to get one first, the extra $100 for a FE card obviously won't be a big impediment either.

 

[MrTeal]

Unless you are water cooling or going mini ATX SLI, 1080 FE is NOT the card to buy. Don't waste your $, get AIB.

If you're water cooling, the FE is absolutely not the card to buy either. EK and others make blocks for several of the more popular aftermarket cards, so limiting yourself to the reference card is likely (depending on OCs on better boards) wasting a lot of the benefit you'd get from putting it under water.

 

[Squeetard]

I'd be frustrated enough to go play in traffic if that happened to me. I'd take a bite out of a damn semi-truck's fender on the highway headed right toward me. Frustration = level 10 out of 10.
If I think I am coming home with a new GPU, and I don't come home with a new GPU, and I realize the entire weekend will be spent without a new GPU, I will then consider this entire universe a failed experiment and find it worthy of ending right then and there.

Also, taking off work for this is perfectly reasonable. If you aren't a surgeon with a planned surgery that day, everyone else can go straight to hell if they don't like me taking off work. I would do it. I have done it. I'd do it again.

Hehe. Okay then.
Buttttt. I'm kinda in the same boat. I used to upgrade every six months and the new hardware was awesome. I've had my xfire 7970's for 3 years or so now, just nothing worth it really. Told myself to wait for the die shrink, things are gonna be sick then. Sure enough, the initial benches had me jonesing like a 40 year old virgin at a Harry Potter book signing.
Within a day, before I even had the possibility of getting one, the story changed. Early adopters were getting screwed. And I'm not talking about the $100 founders tax. Turns out that edition is power starved.
Now, today, I may be able to find one somewhere but the interweb is aflood with news of the custom AIB editions from all vendors and the specs make the FE look like a gtx 570. 14 phase power, 2 8 pins connectors, you know these are going to beasts. The thought of buying a Founders Edition does not appeal to me in the least.

 

[RussianSensation]

If you're water cooling, the FE is absolutely not the card to buy either. EK and others make blocks for several of the more popular aftermarket cards, so limiting yourself to the reference card is likely (depending on OCs on better boards) wasting a lot of the benefit you'd get from putting it under water.

:thumbsup: I was trying to be polite to the FE turd. 8-pin connector alone means it's a useless GP104 SKU for water cooling + max overclocking.

Now, today, I may be able to find one somewhere but the interweb is aflood with news of the custom AIB editions from all vendors and the specs make the FE look like a gtx 570. 14 phase power, 2 8 pins connectors, you know these are going to beasts. The thought of buying a Founders Edition does not appeal to me in the least.

:thumbsup:

When spending $699 USD on a long-waited upgrade, who the hell wants the worst version of a GP104 1080 variant? Zotac and Strix 1080 cards make the FE card seem like a total joke at $699. Heck, even if the FE was $599, I'd actually pay a premium over it to get an AIB card.

 

[moonbogg]

Yes, the single power connector on the FE card scares the hell out of me personally. I would HATE to spend $700 + $120 for water block, take the time to install it, fill the loop, turn it on, go to OC it and BAM! You hit a wicked power wall and can't OC worth a damn anyway.
Aftermarket is the only way to go with this one IMO.

 

[ksheets]

I didn't REALLY take the day off just for Microcenter, it's a nice day, and I wanted a long 4 day weekend.

The 460 in my HTPC took a crap last weekend, so i figured what the hell, I'll throw my 970 in there and pick up a 1080. I've never bought a flagship-ish card and the timing coincided nicely, even though the rational part of my brain knows it's stupid as hell to pay an extra $100 for what will probably end up being an inferior card. It's just, sometimes it's nice to blow money on something stupid (it keeps me sane).

What i didn't appreciate was listening to the employees ridiculing the people who showed up at the proper time, as if we should have been EXPECTED to be there at 6AM..just kinda left a bad taste in my mouth.

And i AM calling this a paper launch...I went to MC on the 970 launch day at 6PM and had my choice of cards on the shelf so......

 

[RussianSensation]

What are the rest of your system specs? Monitor & CPU? I bet a 1070 will be more than a sufficient upgrade from your 970 and cost way less. If you have a 1080p/60Hz monitor, than 1080 is not the card to buy. Save the $.

 

[96Firebird]

Sounds like either way you weren't going to get a card, whether MC had let the earlier patrons wait outside or given them vouchers to come back.

Such is life.

 

[Squeetard]

what will probably end up being an inferior card.

More like definitely. The thermal throttling, missing mosfet and single 8 pin power tells me all I need to know.
I feel like I dodged an expensive bullet in holding back.
Look at it this way, MC saved you a hundred or two dollars. Custom cards are gonna get you 20% better performance for the same buck.

 

[RussianSensation]

More like definitely. The thermal throttling, missing mosfet and single 8 pin power tells me all I need to know.
I feel like I dodged an expensive bullet in holding back.
Look at it this way, MC saved you a hundred or two dollars. Custom cards are gonna get you 20% better performance for the same buck.

:thumbsup:

Asus Strix 1936mhz Boost.

http://videocardz.com/60496/custom-geforce-gtx-1080-roundup

Many cards are automatically gimped by 5+1 VRMs and 8-pin connector. Many PC gamers will buy these without a 2nd thought, leaving OC headroom on the table. For those who don't OC, it's probably not a big deal but when spending $649-699 on a 1080 with 2Ghz+ overclocking headroom it seems wasteful to leave extra performance on the table for just a $50 savings.

 

[ksheets]

It's all good...I'm at the point I'm glad I didn't spend $700 on it hahah

 

[MongGrel]

It's all good...I'm at the point I'm glad I didn't spend $700 on it hahah

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I'd call it Karma and get something else in the future than the FE.

 

[weevilone]

I picked one up at the St. Louis MC. Same deal here mostly. They handed out slips of paper good for a card till 10AM. The 6th person in line said they were there at 6AM. About 20 people in front of me and I got the last one. Allegedly they had 35 cards, so a dozen or so bought 2. Saw another dude not in line with 2 slips of paper and found out he used to work there so got a hookup I think.

Don't need a FE lecture though, this will work for me well. I hand my cards down to SFF cases that can't accommodate custom coolers.

Edit: the extra $100 sucks but apparently flying off shelves so get used to it I think..

 

[SteveGrabowski]

It's all good...I'm at the point I'm glad I didn't spend $700 on it hahah

Yeah, if you're going to spend $700 get the EVGA Classified.

 

[kaesden]

Time to eat crow. Its a paper launch. Availability is horrendous and has driven prices of the founders edition cards well over $1000.

GG nVidia, the prices of this card are ~double what you said they would be.

 

[Qwertilot]

Er no. 'Proper' paper launches don't put double figures of cards into multiple stores over the USA/everywhere else.

Having the demand for their card on launch day being an overwhelming multiple of their normal sales makes it utterly inevitable that you'll get short term shortages.
(Unless they'd hoarded production for say 3 months in advance!).

I've no idea why more people don't have at least a little more patience. Seems a lost skill

 

[ShintaiDK]

How can it be a paper launch if you see plenty of cards. I could have bought 500+ cards when they released. After an hour and 15mins they was all sold out at the retailers I checked here in DK. And new stock is ready Monday/Tuesday.

From OCUK.